Fixtures and fittings WTF

[olafisking]

Recieved our vendor's fixtures and fittings form today. It makes for interesting reading! They have put almost everything under the 'priced' section for us to buy from them! Highlights are all carpets, sockets and light switches, shed (6'x4' for £180 ), all curtain rails, it goes on. In total they have requested £2600 for stuff you would usually expect to be included! Thue have said they will give us their goldfish and tank though

After I picked my jaw up off the floor I rang the estate agent and asked them to check this as I was a little surprised. She came back confirming it was correct and that the vendor said as we had knocked 7k off the asking price we were 'still getting a bargain'. She queried whether the curtain rails would fit their new house and he said 'no, but we're not leaving them'.

We will be asking our solicitor to contact theirs to confirm that a) they cannot charge for the water feature which was listed in the particulars b) that we do not wish to pay for any items but do not require them to remove them if it is too much hassle c) that if they replace the sockets etc with white plastic ones we will want an electrical installation certificate and d) that if they decide they are removing the carpets that they give us notice so we can arrange fitting. Have I missed anything?

They can't remove electric sockets ans switches, you have to have them. If they remove light fixtures they have to replace them with a plain hanging bulb at least.
I'd get your solicitor on the case, they are being ridiculous and tell them to take the fish with them.

They say they will replace their sockets with white plastic ones. Which is fine if they get an electrician to do it! The light fixtures aren't mentioned funnily enough, just switches

I would instruct my solicitor to point out that if they remove the curtain rails then they have to "make good" any holes in the walls and that any sockets replaced with white plastic ones are done by a qualified electrician and you want the report confirming it.

Tell them to take the shed, and let them (previous vendors we had said that and didn't take it)

I would also put a clause into the sale to withhold X amount of money until after completion to make sure they have complied with the "making good" bit otherwise they will screw you over.

What twats.

Get solicitor to send a letter reminding them switches to be replaced, electricians certificate and all walls made good where curtain rails have been removed. Retainer would be a good idea too.

People are such petty dick heads.

I guess by getting 7k off .. The. List is their way of recouping some money?

I had this and I didn't get anywhere near off 7k - they even cut cables ! Removed sockets (well the ones they could manage) and light switches... He was just petty too.

With the 7k you've saved get yourself carpet and curtain poles you actually want

I don't see why that's an issue. You've said you're not bothered about the switches, I wouldn't expect a vendor to leave a shed or curtain polls and I'd rip up any carpets that a vendor left. They're saving you the job!

Thing is you haven't necesarily saved £7k, you might well just be paying market price which would normally include floor coverings etc. That's for you to judge.

VoleSnuffle's advice sounds excellent. Just beware of cutting off your nose to spite your face. We refused to pay for the curtain poles because we resented being asked to, and it was a PITA moving into a house in June with no way to put up curtains. Then DH put up some curtain rails, but the more old holes you have (even if "made good" cosmetically), the more chance that you want to drill a hole half over an old one, which doesn't work. Putting up our own rails - even cheap Argos ones - cost us more in time and money than paying the F&F price.

I think you'd be within your rights to go back and say your offer was made on the assumption that carpets and curtain rails would be included. presumably you're not prepared to lose the house over it though?

When it comes down to it could they be arsed with doing it tho? May want you to pay for stuff that they would possibly/probably leave anyway. We got left quite a few bits the previous owners couldn't be bothered with taking.

We had a similar grabby vendor despite us paying asking price. They wanted money for a gas fitting so we went back and said no to it but that if they removed it we wanted confirmation that it had been done by a qualified person and that making good had been done in advance of completing.
They left it in situ.

The thing is, the amounts they are asking I would not be willing to pay for things not to my taste! However it's a bit disingenuous to say we can used the 7k we saved - that saving is on the mortgage not cash in our hands, we have a limited budget to decorate when we move in (we need a new fridge for a start!) and new carpets throughout is not something we budgeted for. At the moment my tactic is to be as friendly as possible but just politely decline, we will go through line by line to check there's nothing worth buying off them but TBH even the curtain rails are not my taste and it's not insubstantial amounts of money they are asking (£175 for the largest rail).

Wow. Solicitor and retainer

It's this sort of shit that makes moving so stressful! Hey are being ridiculous taking light switches. Be polite but yes decline, chances are they won't bother.

When we bought our house the vendors proudly showed their garden and fish pond, then put the fish on the list of things they wanted money for. Told them to take the fish which they didn't in the end. People are so annoying!!!

This happened to my parents.

It soured the whole thing for them and they pulled out.

The house they pulled out of then sat on the market for a full year...

£175 for a curtain rail??

Where does one even buy a pole of that value?

B&Q. £30. Tops.

With the 7k you've saved get yourself carpet and curtain poles you actually want

She hasn't 'saved' £7k FFS - basic valuaiton principles people. Honestly.

The agreed offer price is 'market value'. The 'asking price' is irelevent.

Market Value
The estimated amount for which an asset or liability should exchange on the valuation date between a willing buyer and a willing seller in an arm’s length transaction, after proper marketing and where the parties had each acted knowledgeably, prudently and without compulsion.

List everything in in numbered bullets they are saying is not included in the agreed sale price, send to your solicitor and ask them to write a clause in the contract to be signed on exchange. The contract will make them legally liable to remove these by completion, if they don't, they're in breach and big trouble.
Along with each item, state the evidence if any you require, e.g. Safety certificates, photographs of holes filled in.
Your solicitor can advice on a suitable retention value you may want to include. This retention can be paid to the vendor's solicitor but they won't be allowed to release it until you, the buyer sign off that all the clauses have been completed satisfactorily. That way you'll be covered if they leave things, you can write in that the retention can be called upon by you the buyer to make good any issues as a result of these F&F.
The seller may read it all and think WTF can't be bothered with this as it's legally binding and modify what they're leaving behind.

We've been on both sides: had £5k reserved from our sale proceeds due to unexpected issues between the exchange and completion time; and I asked for clauses to be added in our purchase contract as vendor being super pushy and wanted to leave his fridge and washing machine, I didn't want them, I got the impression he couldn't be bothered to dispose so I had it written in so I wouldn't be lumbered with the costs of disposal.

Lastly, I'm always shocked by sellers who do this!! Bloody annoying.

Just be aware that holes being filled in is still a complete pain. Our sellers filled holes with filler. But did a rubbish job with it and didn't leave us any paint to touch up. The result being that we had to redecorate which was something we hadn't planned on doing straight away.

We had exactly the same thing with our vendors, and we'd paid full asking price. Grabby fuckers. They wanted cash for everything from made to measure blinds, right down to a plant pot in the garden. We were told that if we didn't fork out for it all, they'd take it all with them.

They didn't know we knew they were emigrating to New Zealand, so we told them we were fine for them to take it all away.

They ended up leaving most of it behind.